Why 2019 could be a turning point for DeVante Parker

Former Louisville football wide receiver and current Miami Dolphin Devante Parker is putting on a show in training camp.

Maybe it’s finally DeVante Parker’s time in Miami.

We’ve been saying this about the former Louisville football receiver and beloved Ballard high school standout for five consecutive offseasons now, but perhaps this season is the most intriguing of all.

Parker has recorded 163 receptions and 2,217 receiving yards (good for 13.6 yards per reception) over the span of four seasons and accounted for nine total touchdowns in his career. However, the troubling part is that in his four years, he’s only played in 54 career games.

Expecting a breakthrough season in 2018, the Dolphins held onto Parker in the final year of a lucrative 4-year contract in hopes that he would finally get through a season healthy. But in his third preseason game, Parker broke the middle finger of his right hand and missed the first two games of the regular season.

Just as Parker’s game was beginning to get back on track, he sustained a leg injury only one week back into the season, which set him back two more games. He showed flashes of brilliance in a six reception, 134-yard performance during week 8 at Houston, but injuries to his hand and shoulder,  along with inconsistent quarterback play limited what should have been a great season for Parker.

To the surprise of many, he was re-signed by the Dolphins in the offseason and has been one of the biggest positives in the Dolphins camp.

Still, criticism abounds, particularly around the Miami fanbase, who have seen this story before.

A lot of fans have bought into the hype during previous offseasons, only to be ultimately let down by another parker injury. In 2019, they have learned their lesson and, judging by some pretty humorous social media posts, they are playing a wait-and-see game before putting all of their eggs in the Parker basket.

The criticism is certainly fair. The Dolphins have made a significant investment in the should-be star receiver only to have him spend a ton of time sitting out due to injuries.

Sportsinjurypredictor.com rates Parker as one of the least durable players in the entire league and gives him a 57.5 percent chance of sustaining an injury sometime in the 2019 season.

Still, the Dolphins are taking the good with the bad, because if Parker can stay healthy, he creates one of the biggest mismatch problems in the NFL.

In 2016, the last year where Parker was at full speed for most of the season, he recorded 56 receptions for 744 yards and four touchdowns as the No. 2 option behind Jarvis Landry. Now that Landry is gone, it’s Parkers team to command at the WR1 position.

This season, a new signal-caller will be getting him the ball. NFL journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick is the favorite to win the starting nod, coming off of one of his best seasons yet in relief of Jameis Winston in Tampa Bay, while Josh Rosen is hoping for a better sophomore campaign, moving over from the Arizona Cardinals.

Whoever wins the starting spot, it has become clear that both quarterbacks love to throw to Parker, who has become adept at finding any ball in his area and going up to grab it.

Kenyan Drake returns to a backfield that sorely needs him to step up and take some of the attention off of the passing game. If he can do so, it will open up even more opportunities for Parker and company.

If he can stay healthy, Parker says he knows his goals in 2019 entail. “A success for me? A thousand yards,” he said when asked by local media about his expectations for next season, citing that it’s something he has yet to accomplish in his career.

The pieces seem to be in place for a 1,000-yard season. Parker is the clear-cut No. 1, and he has two quarterbacks who love to get him the ball.

The Dolphins believe in him too. In the offseason, if they wanted to keep Parker to test the waters during his fifth year, they could have done so by exercising his fifth-year option. Instead, they opted to sign him to a 2-year extension, upping his contact by nearly $4 million.

Clearly, the organization isn’t done with Parker yet. And if he manages to fight off the injury bug, Parker has what it takes to become an elite wide receiver in the NFL.